Organisational development & design explained

Organisational design

Organisational design is the process of aligning the structure of an organisation with its objectives, with the ultimate aim of improving efficiency and effectiveness. Work can be triggered by the need to improve service delivery or specific business processes, or as a result of a new mandate.

More than designing a structure, it involves:

• Understanding the imperative for change and the environment
• Understanding the business processes, workflows, roles and responsibilities, volumes of work, activity analysis and resources
• Designing and testing new models or structures
• Planning and managing the transition from the old structure to the new
• Implementing and monitoring the change

Organisational development

Organisational development is the planned, comprehensive and systematic process aimed at improving the overall effectiveness of an organisation.

It involves intervening in its processes, structure and culture; there is a strong emphasis on organisational behaviour, human resource development and organisational change.

Organisational design can be viewed as an organisational development intervention.